BETTINA'S RECIPES

(All measurements are level)

Broiled Ham= (Four portions)

1 lb. ham 2 C-milk

Soak a one-half inch slice of ham in one cup of lukewarm milk for half an hour. Drain and wipe dry. Place in a hot tin pan and cook for five minutes directly under the flame, turning frequently to prevent burning.

Scones= (Fourteen scones)

2 C-flour 4 t-baking powder 1/3 t-salt 2 T-lard 1 egg 2/3 C-milk 1 T-"C" sugar 1/2 t-cinnamon

Mix the flour, baking-powder and salt. Cut in the lard with a knife, add all but one teaspoonful of the beaten egg, then add the milk gradually. Mix with a knife into a soft dough. Pat into a square shape one-half inch thick. Brush over the top with one teaspoonful of egg and sprinkle with the sugar and cinnamon (mixed thoroughly). Cut into one and one-half inch squares. Place in a tin pan and bake twelve minutes in a hot oven.

Prune Blanc Mange= (Four portions)

2 T-cornstarch 2 T-sugar 4 T-cold milk 2/3 C-hot milk 1/4 t-salt 1/2 C-cooked, cut prunes 1/2 t-lemon extract 1/2 t-vanilla

Mix the cornstarch, sugar and salt, and add the cold milk slowly. Gradually add the hot milk. Cook in a double boiler for twenty minutes. Add the prunes, lemon extract and vanilla. Beat well, and serve cold with cream.

CHAPTER LXXII

AND WHERE WAS THE DINNER?

"HELLO!" called Bob at the door one evening.

No answer.

"Hello, Bettina!" he called again. Again the dark house gave forth no reply.

Feeling, it must be admitted, a little out of harmony with a world that allowed weary and hungry husbands to come home to dark and empty houses when the clock said plainly that it was a quarter after six, Bob made his way to the kitchen. Perhaps Bettina had left his dinner there for him; perhaps she had been called away, or perhaps, even, she had rushed out on some errand after dinner preparations were begun. The kitchen, however, was so immaculate as to seem distinctly forbidding to a hungry man whose appetite was growing keener every minute. And he had been thinking all the way home that a hot dinner would taste so good!

At that moment a clamor of voices at the door aroused him.

"You poor old Bob!" cried Bettina, kissing him twice before Fred and Ruth without the least embarrassment. "Have you waited long?"

"It seemed hours," admitted Bob.

"Ruth and I have been to a tea for Alice. Fred came for her there, and I persuaded them to come home to dinner with me. I'll give you each something to do while I stir up a little cottage pudding. Then dinner will be ready in half an hour."

"Half an hour?" cried Bob. "But, Bettina, where is the dinner? I didn't see any!"

"In the fireless cooker, you crazy boy! Are you 'most starved?"

"Well," said Bob, "that cooker was the neatest, stiffest-looking thing in the kitchen! I didn't dream that it was busily cooking a dinner. Say, I'll be glad to see a hot meal again!"

The dinner consisted of:

Round Steak with Vegetables Dutch Cheese Bread Plum Butter Cottage Pudding Vanilla Sauce

BETTINA'S RECIPES

(All measurements are level)

Round Steak with Vegetables= (Six portions)

2 lbs. round steak 6 potatoes 6 carrots 6 onions 2 T-flour 2 T-lard 2 t-salt 1/4 t-paprika 1/4 C-water

Pound the flour into the round steak with the edge of a small plate. This breaks the fibers of the meat, making it more tender. Wash and peel the potatoes, slicing in half lengthwise. Scrape the carrots, and cut into one-half inch slices lengthwise. Wash the onions and remove their outside skins. Sprinkle the vegetables with one and a half level teaspoons of salt, and the paprika. Add the water, and place in the bottom of the large fireless cooker utensil. Place the lard in a frying pan, and when hot, add the meat. Brown thoroughly on each side. Salt the meat with one-half level teaspoon of salt, and place in the kettle on top of the vegetables. Place the heated disks of the fireless cooker over and under the utensil, and cook at least one hour in the cooker.

Cottage Pudding= (Six portions)

1-1/2 C-flour 3 t-baking powder 1/4 t-salt 1/2 C-sugar 1 egg 1/2 C-milk 1/2 t-vanilla 3 T-melted butter

Mix the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Add the egg, milk and vanilla, and beat one minute. Add the melted butter, and pour into a well buttered tin pan. Bake twenty minutes in a moderate oven. Serve warm with vanilla sauce.

Vanilla Sauce= (Six portions)

2/3 C-sugar 3 T-flour 1 t-vanilla 1/2 t-lemon extract 1/4 t-salt 1-1/2 C-water 1 t-butter

Mix the sugar, flour and salt thoroughly. Add the water slowly. Boil two minutes. Add the vanilla, lemon extract, and butter. Beat one minute and serve. If too thick, more water may be added.

CHAPTER LXXIII

ALICE TELLS HER TROUBLES

"AND the minute I caught a glimpse of you, Bettina, at the tea this afternoon, I thought, 'Oh, if Betty would only ask me to go home with her to a sensible homelike dinner, with no one there but herself and Bob----'"

"Not even Harry, Alice?"

"No, not even Harry! I'm so sick and tired of teas and dressmakers and wedding gowns and bridesmaids that I'm tired even of Harry, too! Almost."

"But, Alice, then why do it all? Why have all this fuss and feathers?" And Bettina's knife, with which she was cutting bread, came down with a click of vehemence. "It has always seemed silly to me--all the worry and bother----"

"But what can I do now, Bettina? I've started, and I'll have to go through with it! Why, even now, I ought to be home for dinner--mother has several guests--but I phoned her that I had a headache and was coming here, where I could be quiet. And I do have a headache--and no appetite, and----"

"Just wait till you taste this nice brown meat that I have in the oven, Alice! The trouble with you is that you've been eating silly party food for such a long time. And tonight you are to have a sensible dinner with plain people."

"Plain people? Who calls me plain?" interrupted Bob, coming in like a tornado. "Hello, Alice! How can you spare any time from all these festivities I hear about?"

For dinner that night they had:

Rolled Flank of Beef with Bread Dressing Browned Potatoes Hot Slaw Prune Pudding Cream Coffee

BETTINA'S RECIPES

(All measurements are level)

Rolled Flank of Beef= (Four portions)

1 lb. round steak one inch thick 2 T-flour 1 t-salt 2 one-inch cubes of suet

Wipe the meat, trim the edges, pound on both sides with the edge of a plate to break the tendon. Place the dressing (given below) on the steak, roll, and tie with a cord. Roll in the flour and salt. Place in a small dripping pan, put the suet on the top of the meat, add enough water to cover the bottom of the pan, and bake in a moderate oven for fifty minutes. Baste frequently.